Southern NM State Fair, 2025 Edition

 

I enjoy entering my crafts into the fair every year. I don't think state fairs get the attention that they used to, but I do think it should be a valuable place to compete with other makers, growers, and artists. It could be a way for us to see what others are doing and making. I really love seeing what others are making! And, if you are thinking about getting paid for those skills, it can be a way of gauging your skill growth. Unfortunately, the fairs don't draw like they used to, and the competition is only sometimes stiff. At least when it comes to making. I don't enter stuff because I have to win. I enter stuff because I don't want the venue to die out.

I'm going to share what I made and entered with you, but I'm also going to share what a few of the competitors entered, that I thought was cool.  

Time for sharing the fair entries and results.

First were my crocheted items. Since the fair last year, I made a couple of stacking ring toys, that I entered.

Stacking ring toy Sheep

Stacking ring toy Snowman

Along with these, I entered several of the Christmas eyeballs I made this year. I didn't get a photo of them with their blue ribbon, but here they are, on their way to the fair...

Some Christmas eyeballs, ready for the fair

They look pretty good, right? But here was their competition...

This crocheted spider was beautifully done! 

Yes, the spider won best of lot. I can't complain. It looks beautiful!

I also entered some sewn items. I made a bunny for my aunt, and a wardrobe for that bunny. I took the bunny and a friend, so I could show how the outfits fit the bunnies.

These cuties!

And I entered the wardrobe as one entry. 

The red ribbon is Second Best of Lot

Not a bad result, right? I know these judges have seen dressed bunnies before (because I've entered some before at the very least) BUT this time I altered the patterns some, giving a little different take on the outfits than before. Yes, that black outfit the bunny on the right is wearing is a ladybug costume. I did that a couple different ways, for different people (and one had butterfly wings). I was pretty happy with them!

Another ladybug, just to get the idea

Finally, I have to share another entry, not my work. Someone created the sock monkey version of the Little old woman who lived in the shoe. Check out this cuteness!!

Sock Monkeys at the Fair!

What will the entries next year be???

The Blue Shells and Ripples Afghan

 

I started this afghan out of this magazine:

Remeber that challenge afghan?

I posted about this edition of the Hooked on Crochet magazine, HERE and the chain link afghan that I challenged myself to make. There is a companion pattern called shells and ripples in the magazine, too.

What is it about brown afghans???

I decided to make this one, too. But the brown had to go.

My palette of BLUES

Once I got the yarn I wanted in the colors I wanted, I started on the afghan. As in the previous one, some of the instructions weren't as clear as I would have liked, but since I have years and years of crochet making stuff experience, I was able to fudge my way through them. One thing I really like about the blues that I picked for the contrast ripple stripe is that I don't have to (and I haven't) used those yarns in the same order every time.

I like the effect!

I'm not quite done with the afghan yet, but I better get done soon, because the yarn is going fast! Oh, and please don't mind the sprinkles of Kaliegh hair that shows up...

Yep, I like those blues!

Charitable Crafting Community Quilt Building #2 Quilt

 

This past weekend, the Charitable Crafting group put the finishing touches on the quilt we have been making in time donate it. Cruces Creatives is taking this quilt, and some others made by a couple different groups, the other quilt we made, and some donated sheet sets, pillows, and even some handy dandy tote bags to a group that help unhoused people get a new start in housing.

Sideways view of the quilt

Even though the first quilt that Charitable Crafting made was made along the same lines as this one, I wasn't as involved in all the steps I was in this quilt. It was quite the learning process for me! The blocks are made with a quilt as you go technique, and then sewn together. Because the backing of each block is bigger than the block, when you sew them together, with the backs together, you then fold the back over and finish the block.

You can see what I mean here, I think

It gave us a technique for letting many different people, with different sewing abilities, and who might never have helped make a quilt, participate in our project. And there isn't a wrong way to sew a block. OK, I'm sure if you tried, you could ruin one, but really, look how beautiful it turned out!

Even the back is beautiful!

In the first quilt we made, I did a lot of cutting out of backing fabric and batting into the squares that we needed, and I made a good many squares. I enjoyed making them! On this quilt, I didn't do as much cutting but I did work on many squares again. This time, we also included some orphan blocks, that had been donated one way or another, and then those were free motion quilted, or quilted by using a walking stitch and maybe even some decorative stitching. There was a lot of variety of blocks made and included.

Getting those last rows put on the quilt was definitely a challenge. The quilt took some wrangling to get that accomplished, so I'm sure glad I had help (or else I WAS the help!).

Next up? Would you believe another of these quilts? Look! someone has started blocks!

The first blocks! Loving them all ready!

Every Ending is a New Beginning

 

I finished a couple of projects this week, and I'm working towards another. 

First up is Lillian's hoodie. A nice fleecy hoody for snuggly soft warmth. It isn't my first time working with fleece, but it is the most complex fleecy make I've made. 

soft hoodie, snuggly hoodie

It wasn't a complex pattern, thankfully, and went together pretty easily. More trouble with my sewing machine, which doesn't like thick fabrics. But we managed. My serger also wanted to ruffle the fabric a bit, which means I should have tested it with the fabric left-overs (where the heck did we put those??), and adjusted the tension. But it wasn't too bad, anyway.

What? no pocket?

Lillian was very happy to take her hoodie home, turn up the air conditioning, and snuggle in.

Next, is that project challenge afghan, which I finished, then took off the border, and redid. I'm sooo much happier with the finish this time!!

Oh, yes!

What will happen to this afghan, you ask? I expect to donate it through Cruces Creatives and Charitable Crafting, very possibly to the Community of Hope/Jardin de los Ninos.

The final project I'm going to talk about ALSO will be donated there this month, if we can get it finished. A few of us in the Charitable Crafting group have been working on getting the beautiful, beautiful blocks sewn into rows, and then the rows sewn together. There's a decorative pillow, and a bag to hold the quilt as well. 

The most recent picture I have - beautiful blocks!

I'll try to take more pictures!

And of course, I can't forget the new beginnings part... Yep, some sewists started on blocks for the next Charitable Crafting quilt! So excited to see those beautiful blocks!  I'm working on setting up my next Vintage crafting project. Looks like crochet again, but a much smaller project. It is exciting to challenge myself and learn something! I'm also going to be working on another ripple afghan, but as a challenge bonus, not the challenge. Those bonus projects are going to be some of my favorites, I think. And I can see some happening for the next challenge Vintage crafting source.

On the Border of a Finished Afghan

 

I finished the challenge afghan, and it almost fabulous!

Notice I'm not showing the top or bottom edges.

Here is the sample from the crochet magazine, as a refresher:

Their version

I mean I thought my photo turned out pretty well... but then there's this one. Of the top and bottom. Sigh.

The gathered ends. Not great

Wow! I wish there was a reasonable way to undo the border on just the ends, but I think I'm taking off the border, and adding it again. My mistake? I tried to make the stitch count match the sides. It was a mistake. I just need to go back and let the ends be the number of stitches they are, and I can still keep the basic ripple technique while I do. THEN the dang thing will truly be finished. So this evening I ripped out the border, and started it again.

I'll just blog about it now, and maybe put an update picture in some other time, maybe when I'm on to my next challenge project.

Here are my challenge take-aways: It was very nice working with materials I don't usually work with. I liked the wool/silk mix of the variegated yarn. It felt nice, and it is beautiful. The solid yarn was on a spool (cone?) and I'm not sure what yarn it was, but the cone caused the yarn to fray in places along the bottom. Not a fan of that. I hadn't made a ripple quilt before and I liked this one. It went quickly, and I think someone will enjoy it. It will definitely be warm. I didn't follow the directions exactly, as I talked about in my other posts, but I learned from the process of making this afghan, and really, that was one of my goals! 

Would I recommend making this afghan to others? Actually, since it was mainly single crochet, it was pretty doable. I would say, yes, I would. I might include some instructions on a post-it note of the changes I made, if the person was interested. I might not suggest it as a first afghan you ever made, but maybe the second would be OK.

So what's next along the challenge line? I don't know yet. I haven't picked out the next crafting magazine yet. Not sure if I'll stick to a crochet magazine, or go for some other craft. I feel like doing a variety will keep my interest longer, and I have to admit I do like to trade them off. 

I also bought some yarn - a more conventional acrylic - to make the companion afghan. I don't think I'm going to consider that a challenge craft, though, but more of a bonus find. I went with some blues for that afghan, and I'm sure I'll post some pictures of it, and write about it at some point as well.

Here's the picture of that one from the magazine:

Now picture it in blues

That Afghan Again?

 

I've been working pretty steadily on that afghan, and making good progress. I think I'm more than a third of the way through the main pattern (and then there's a border). 

Making progress

I feel like my later rows (on the edges)  look better than the starter rows (in the middle). I guess I'm getting the hang of the pattern. I remember to do the back loops only on the edging rows, for instance, which helps the pattern look more chain link-y. In some places, the variegated yarn has a stretch that matches the solid yarn, and muddles up the look a bit, but hey, that's why I thought the yarns went well together, so...

In other news, I harvested some of my tomatoes. They are not pretty. The rain we had was too much water, and then a couple hot dry days meant not quite enough. I couldn't win with the water, or not watering... any way, they still taste good, and I would be willing to plant the variety again. Better boys, I think.

Today's tomato harvest

 I guess they go well with my one bell pepper...

One teeny bell pepper (one inch squares there)

It's OK to laugh. I have. I still call it a gardening win, compared to other attempts. I'm still determined to do it again next year!

Oh, yeah, and I've already bought yarn for the other ripple afghan that was in that magazine, so I guess that is a success, too, even though this challenge isn't completed yet.

A Vintage Project Update _ Chain Link Afghan

 

I've been working on the Chain Link Afghan as my first in the Craft Book series. Here it is, so far:

The Chain Link Afghan

Things I'm liking so far... I found some beautiful yarn to work with. The picture doesn't do it justice, really. I'm sure that is a reflection of my phone photo skills (that I don't really have the interest in doing the work to improve much). This afghan is coming together pretty quickly, too, actually. It is worked in columns (up and down) instead of rows, If that matters, but they go pretty quickly. Mostly single crochet, which is an easy stitch, and pretty basic for anyone interested in trying it out for themselves.

Here are the yarns I'm using

There are also some changes that I've made, the most important of which has to do with chains of diamonds that you can see here. They are basically four rows of four single crochet, only I didn't like how the pattern built them into the blanket. So - of course - I changed it. I'm adding an extra row of single crochet to the diamonds so that I can connect them to the work in progress more securely. That makes me happier than having it full of "holes," or basically only connecting the diamonds at the corners. (OK, I just thought of this, that those connection points may make it more like the fencing) When the pattern calls for two rows of ripple between the diamond "rows" the connections seem to me more consistent. So, yeah, mine may not lie as flat as the original, but also, it may be a matter of blocking. IF I bother to do that.

Over all, I am really happy with the project so far. I feel like it won't take a super long time, even though I'm making a fairly large piece. The border rows around the outside of the piece will take longer to crochet, and I may have something to say about that before I'm done...

Here's their version